Smoke inhalation has and always will be a concern for first responders and those in the path of a wildfire, but the air just got a little more dangerous in California after highly toxic pesticides caught fire at an agricultural property in Laguna Farms, Calif.

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Katie Rucke

Katie Rucke is a MintPress staff writer and investigative report specializing in the war on drugs, criminal justice, marijuana legislation, education and watchdog investigations as well as whistle-blowers. Her investigations related to the coverage of the 2010 Toyota recall scandal, and coverage of the trials of Anonymous hacker and proclaimed activist Jeremy Hammond as well as Bradley Manning have received international acclaim. Rucke has been recommended by the Wikileaks organization as a trusted journalist in 2013. Rucke has also written pieces for Yahoo! and various community magazines.
Follow Katie on Twitter: @katierucke

LOS ANGELES — A Southern California wildfire cutting a path to the sea has grown to more than 15 square miles, and crews are preparing for another bad day of gusting winds and hot weather.
The fire that begun in Ventura County has been running down coastal canyons all night along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu. It has damaged 15 homes

Update The Saudi student wrongly accused of being a suspect in the Boston marathon bombings earlier this week has again been mislabeled — this time for violating his student visa. The student, who has been recovering from shrapnel wounds sustained during Monday’s attack has been cleared by police and is no longer a suspect in the […]

Swedish furniture giant Ikea was drawn into Europe’s widening food labeling scandal Monday as authorities said they had detected horse meat in frozen meatballs labeled as beef and pork and sold in 13 countries across the continent. The Czech State Veterinary Administration said that horse meat was found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meatballs made […]

Swedish furniture giant Ikea was drawn into Europe's widening food labeling scandal Monday as authorities said they had detected horse meat in frozen meatballs labeled as beef and pork and sold in 13 countries across the continent.
The Czech State Veterinary Administration said that horse meat was found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meatballs

(CHICAGO) — Sitting on the sidelines accomplishes nothing. Indifference isn’t an option. Nothing important changes without public involvement and activism. “We the people” must show we mean it. Doug Dowd is an economic historian, economist and political activist. At age 94, he’s slowed, but still active, vibrant and committed for long overdue change. He’s a […]

(CHICAGO) -- Sitting on the sidelines accomplishes nothing. Indifference isn't an option. Nothing important changes without public involvement and activism. "We the people" must show we mean it.
Doug Dowd is an economic historian, economist and political activist. At age 94, he's slowed, but still active, vibrant and committed for long overdue

I learned very early on in life the destructive force of wildfires while growing up in Southern California. It seemed like every year from mid-summer until the middle of autumn, warning signs were posted in the foothills above where I lived, alerting people to fire danger. Some days the signs would read “high,” other days […]

I learned very early on in life the destructive force of wildfires while growing up in Southern California. It seemed like every year from mid-summer until the middle of autumn, warning signs were posted in the foothills above where I lived, alerting people to fire danger. Some days the signs would read “high,” other days “very high,” and when the

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Norbert Schiller

Norbert Schiller is a Mint Press photojournalist, creative producer and frequent contributor. Norbert has lived and worked in the Middle East and Africa as a news photographer for over 25 years with major news organizations including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, United Press International, the New York Times and Der Spiegel. He covered three Iraq wars, conflicts and famine in the Horn of Africa, Salafist insurgencies in Egypt and North Africa and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to name a few.